Browse Items (45 total)
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Basting spoon, circa 1800
Basting spoons were used to baste (pour juices or melted fat over meat during cooking in order to keep it moist), as well as for stirring and serving. Basting spoons were used often because of the large amount of meat that was consumed on the frontier. Early Kentucky pioneers had a deep reliance on meat (especially wild game like turkeys or buffalos). They continued to eat wild game as a primary source of food until the pioneers learned to farm in their new environment. As Euro-merican settlers learned how to develop stable food sources through farming and domesticated livestock, they began to hunt buffalo for sport, nearly driving the population into extinction. -
Mourning Bracelet
Mourning bracelet made of twisted gold wire, copper pearl, and the hair of Alexander Scott Bullitt. Inscribed with Bullitt's initials (A.S.B). Alexander Scott Bullitt was born in Virginia in 1761. He migrated to Kentucky around 1783, first living in Shelby County. He married Priscilla Christian Bullitt in 1785, the daughter of William and Annie Henry Christian, major landowners, enslavers, and operators of salt works in Kentucky. Her father William gave the couple 1,000 acres of land as a wedding present. Part of this land was sold and additional land purchased, which became Oxmoor Plantation. The first dwelling was built on the land in 1791. The 1810 census shows that Bullitt enslaved eighty-three individuals, and that his household consisted of seven free white persons. -
Miniature portrait of Ann Booth Gwathmey, circa 1804-1805
Women experienced death and loss regularly on the frontier. Ann Booth Gwathmey (1782-1862) was no exception. The daughter of William A. and Rebecca Hite Booth, she migrated to Jefferson County, KY, with her family as a child. She married John Gwathmey in 1800 when she was eighteen years old, and he was twenty-six. She was nineteen years old when she gave birth to their first daughter, who died less than six weeks later. During the next twenty-five years, Ann lost both of her parents, two more pre-school aged children, and her husband. In her senior years, two of her adult children preceded her in death. See also the mourning necklace that belonged to her. The portrait is attributed to Benjamin Trott. -
Miniature portrait of John Gwathmey, circa 1804-1805
John Gwathmey (1774-1824) migrated to Jefferson County, KY, as a child with his parents Owen and Ann Clark Gwathmey. He married Ann Booth Gwathmey in 1800. He bought five acres near 6th and Cedar streets in Louisville, where he built a two-story brick house later known as the Grayson House. He operated the Indian Queen, a hotel at 6th and Main Streets, and an important social and civic hub in the city. In 1816, he sold his home and moved his family to New Orleans where he operated the Merchants Coffee House, the oldest coffee house in the city. In the era before photography, miniature portraits were popular mementos of loved ones that could be easily carried across long physical distances. The watercolor on ivory portraits were desired for the way artists could accurately capture a subject, working in such small dimensions. The portrait is attributed to Benjamin Trott. -
Miniature portrait of Ann Rogers Clark Gwathmey, circa 1804-1805
In the era before photography, miniature portraits were popular mementos of loved ones that could be easily carried across long physical distances. The watercolor on ivory portraits were desired for the way artists could accurately capture a subject, working in such small dimensions. Ann Rogers Clark Gwathmey (1755-1822) was the sister of George Rogers Clark and William Clark. She was married to Owen Gwathmey. She and her husband moved to Louisville with at least five of their twelve children in 1797. They purchased 335 acres and built a home near Harrod's Creek, east of Louisville not very far from her sister Lucy Croghan's home at Locust Grove. The proximity to her sister and other family members ensured that Ann had a strong social network to rely on. The Gwathmeys enslaved twenty individuals on their estate, whose labor created economic advantage and comfort for the family. The portrait is attributed to Benjamin Trott and believed to have been painted when the miniatures of her son John and his wife Ann were painted. -
The Kentucky Revival, 1807
Title page of A short history of the late extraordinary out-pouring of the spirit of God in the western states of America, agreeably to Scripture-promises, and prophecies concerning the latter day. With a brief account of the entrance and progress of what the world call Shakerism, among the subjects of the late revival in Ohio and Kentucky. Presented to the true Zion-traveller, as a memorial of the wilderness journey, included is a bound pamphlet called "observations on church government" by Shakers of Springfield, Ohio.Tags Christianity; church; god; pamphlets; pleasant hill; presbytery; religion; revivals; scripture; shakerism; shakers; zion -
History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis & Clark to the sources of the Missouri, then across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean: performed during the years 1804-06 by order of the government of the United States.
Title page of The first authentic history of the expedition, was written by Nicholas Biddle, and edited by Paul Allen. -
Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of upper and lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797.
Includes view of the natural Rock Bridge, houses, conditions of the enslaved peoples,the land, cultivating tobacco, lower classes of people in Virginia, unhealthy apperances, the Shenandoa Valley, German immigratnts, landscapes, military titles that are common in America, Irish immigrants, etc.Tags African American; agriculture; canada; climate; clothing; clover; enslaved persons; enslavement; European Immigrants; farming; fashion; german immigrants; immigration; irish immigrants; military titles; natural history; natural rock bridge; nature; public health; social class; tobacco; travel; travelogue; wheat; Women -
Travels on an inland voyage: through the states of New-York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee and through the territories of Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and New- Orleans: performed in the years 1807 and 1808: including a tour of nearly six thousand miles
Covers travels through Ohio and Kentucky and observations on mammoth bones (antiquities), floating mills, land prices and navigating the Ohio. Covers types of river transportation and shipment of goods between Natchez and Kentucky. -
The two principal arguments of William Wirt, Esquire, on the trial of Aaron Burr, for high treason, and on the motion to commit Aaron Burr and others, for trial in Kentucky
Title page of William Wirt's arguments for the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. -
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American Ornithology, or, the Natural History of the birds of the United States, 1808-1814
The natural history of the birds of the United States: illustrated with plates, engraved and colored from original drawings taken from nature.Tags art; artists; birds; faw object; imprints; lithograph; natural history; naturalist; ornithology; pamphlets; science -
Letter from William Clark to Jonathan Clark, 28 May 1809
Clark writes his brother Jonathan from St. Louis regarding plans to travel east for a visit in the fall and their likely route. He reports how Julia and Lewis are doing, including Lewis being vaccinated with the cowpox and his reaction to being bathed. Sends regrets of George Rogers Clark's situation and hopes he will continue to recover. Talks of York's return to St. Louis from Kentucky and his continued bad attitude, punishment, and possible plans regarding him, and an enslaved woman Priscilla giving birth to a stillborn child and her little boy getting accidently scalded. He provides an update on the most recent news regarding Native American affairs and possible hostilities. -
Letter from William Clark to Jonathan Clark, 4 February 1802
William Clark writes his brother Jonathan from Redstone Landing [present Brownsville, Pennsylvania] on the Monongahela River updating him on the status of the trip moving Jonathan's enslaved people and some household goods and animals from Spotsylvania County, Virginia, to Jefferson County, Kentucky, ahead of Jonathan's family moving there later in the year. He provides specific information on the difficulties and costs encountered regarding the roads, weather, and enslaved people. -
Letter from Valentine Meriwether to Arthur Campbell, 24 March 1802
Discusses purchasing land at the Falls of the Ohio and payments made for it using money or enslaved people. -
Kentucky map, 1805
Map of Kentucky in 1805 showing towns, counties, rivers, creeks, and American Indian boundary lines. Taken from Aaron Arrowsmith's "A New and Elegant General Atlas." -
The State of Kentucky with the adjoining territories from the best authorities, 1800
Shows Kentucky and surrounding territories. Engraved for Payne's Geography, published by I. Low New York.Tags map -
Cours du Mississipi: comprenant la Louisiane, les 2 Florides, une partie des Etats-Unis, et pays adjacents, 1803
Course of the Mississippi: including Louisiana, the 2 Floridas, part of the United States, and adjacent countries. From P. Etienne Herbin de Halle's Statistique générale et particulière de la France et de ses colonies. -
Letter from Jonathan Clark to Isaac Hite, 2 April 1809
In this letter, Jonathan Clark comments on lawsuits he has pending, attorneys' qualifications, fees, and strategies for pursuing the cases. -
Circular containing questions concerning the Burr Conspiracy, 2 May 1807
Circular from Attorney General Caesar Rodney to Jonathan Clark in Louisville includes an attached list of questions to ask people in the region who might have information about Aaron Burr or the "late conspiracy against the Constitution and law of the United States."